


You're My Stars

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Aerial Dancer, F/M, Haly's Circus, The Flying Graysons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-06-02 21:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6582292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You and your brothers were picked up from a smaller circus by Haly's Circus. It's only been three months, but you already have a best friend by the name, Jerome Valeska.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i need to stop making new things and complete my old ones......... i'm so sorry.................

Various colored silks hung from the tall support beams of the main tent at Haly’s Circus. The cicadas screamed from outside as the sun began to set, sending off dim lighting in the striped tent. The sun was low, but you could still see it through the slit in the tent’s opening, the trees shading it in random designs. The smell of summer rain filled the area with humidity and the smell of freshly turned earth. It was the first day of being in Iowa for the season and the big tent was being reserved for the new aerial dancers that just joined. Now that everything was set up, it was time for all the main acts to practice and work out.

As the newest act to Haly’s Circus, you and your brothers had the last time slot until you built up in popularity. You and your two brothers had been working on timing and synchronized movements for the last hour and forty-five minutes. The heights were bigger, you all had new fabrics, and a couple of Graysons to help you out even. Haly’s was _much_ bigger than the last circus that you were apart of.

You stretched your body up and groaned as you felt tension release from your muscles. You relaxed again, but kept your arms up and bent backwards with your hands laying flat on the ground. Your eyes fluttered closed and you brought forward your legs, kicking them over your head to stand on your hands.

“Ya know, I just don’t see how that is useful to you when you’re an aerial dancer,” a bored voice droned from beyond your view.

Your eyes shot open and you leaned your leg weight forward and came to a landing. Tilting your head, you popped the joints in your neck and watched your ginger spectator flinch. He made a gagging sound and stuck his tongue out in exaggeration as he came out from behind a stack of hay bales for the horses. You smiled and set your hands on your hips as you turned to Jerome, standing in his favored purple hoodie and a pair of blue jeans.

“Gross. You know I hate that,” he complained with furrowed eyebrows and an exaggerated frown.

“I know,”you replied smugly with a toothy smile. You chuckled when he tried to lunge at you and you stepped aside. “How about you try to catch me up here if you wanna play chase so badly.” A smirk spread across your lips as you wrapped your arms around the hanging fabric and giving it a firm tug.

“Hey wait! Come down here, that’s cheating,” Jerome yelled as your brothers hoisted you up from the beams above him.

Your laughter filled the tent as you twirled above head and swung back and forth, the silks fluttering beneath you. Jerome took a few steps back and sat on the dirt ground, gazing up at you and listening to your sweet laughter fill his ears and course through him like the purest drug. You always seemed so at peace and in love with being in the air, wrapped in fabric that you managed to out glow. The ginger boy found it fascinating how your beauty was brighter as you spun and flipped, the fabrics fluttering around you like colorful wings. _His angel_. Or so he liked to call you at least.

He was plentiful content with watching you from the ground, but your family’s practice time was up and you were slowly coming back down to Earth. Jerome got up from the ground and bowed to you at the waist.

“My lady,” he said in a false posh voice as he offered you his arm.

You snorted and ruffled his red hair before making a run for it out of the tent. He scoffed and ran after you and tried to fix his hair at the same time. The two of your ran a chase through the circus grounds for a good fifteen minutes before you slowed down and tried to hide in between the corndog stand and the candy apple stand. You tried to catch your breath while squatting in the shade of the food stands, but rough, warm hands were placed on the back of your neck and your upper forearm and pulled you back roughly.

You landed on your back in the dirt. You slowly opened our eyes with a false whimper to see Jerome’s freckled face shading your own. You hummed in frustration and gave him a frown, taking his hand to lift yourself up.

“No fair,” you whined, your lower lip sticking out.

“Aw, too bad, doll,” he teased while skipping ahead of you. You both laughed when he tripped over his own two feet.

“Let’s just get going, you dork,” you bumped your hip against his and smiled widely.

You helped Jerome back up and linked arms with him, skipping out of the circus to go explore the near by town. Another town to that you haven’t seen to wreck havoc in and explore. Another adventure for the night to draw memories from with Jerome.


	2. Chapter 2

You spent the following two years with Jerome as your best friend. Each month was a chapter to you and each town a new adventure and a new puzzle to work out before you left, only to round back next year. Along the way you became friends with some of the younger Graysons, and Jerome with the younger Lloyds, and while the two never mixed, it never stopped you and Jerome from becoming closer with each day.

Time passed and passed, soon Jerome teased you about being smaller than him and you teased him about how lanky he was or how much he ate. You and your brothers’ act became one of the main attractions. The day the family got a banner was monumental to you, Jerome stole a six-pack to share with him that night under the stars; dancing with the fireflies and singing to the skies. That was your best memory yet with him; a warm flow sending waves of dizziness through your body, and the mixture of the bitter beer and sweet cotton candy dancing on your tongue.

You confided everything in Jerome, all of your secrets and tales and dreams, and he listened to everyone of them as he slowly formed a story book of you in his mind. He showered you in any gift he could get his hands on for you, little trinkets were scattered around your trailer and your closet was stuffed with clothes he stole from the town along the way.

Jerome felt attached to you in mind and soul. He came to every practice and every show you had, watching his angel spread her wings and fly. He longed to feel as celestial as she looked with her, but she also kept him grounded to the earth when he was breaking. Picking him up from the ground and cleaning any wound he had, running your warm fingers through his hair when he was angry. He hated you. He hated what you made of him, soft as cotton candy and as bendable as licorice. He needed you. Your touch, your touch voice, and your laugh. When you laughed near him, he felt better than any drug or drink could ever make him feel.

To him you were as glittering as the stars and as sweet as champagne. 

\---

It was summer and Haly’s was currently making it’s rounds in Nevada. It was noon and you sat on top of a blanket on top of your trailer with Jerome, snacking on some pretzels you managed to flirt out of the boy working his day shift. Your tilted your head back and closed your eyes as you soaked in the sunshine. Jerome sat under an umbrella the pair of you had hoisted up for him; being a ginger wasn’t easy when your best friend loved the summer sun and you burnt up like a raisin.

He picked apart his pretzel and stuffed the bread in his mouth.

“So you ready for tonight’s show,” he said through a mouthful of salty dough.

“Yeah, sure. It’s just another show, nothing new. Why ask, Jay,” you tilted your head and looked at him through your pink tinted, heart shaped glasses.

“’S just your eighteenth birthday. Maybe somethin’ big will happen tonight, I dunno,” he shrugged his shoulders and mindlessly picked apart the pretzel in his hand.

“Oh calm down. It’s not like I’m going to burst to flames just because I’m eighteen now,” you stated sarcastically with a dry laugh. “You need to not be so much of a worry wart.' You pushed at him with your foot and he took your flip flop in retaliation, the two of you laughing like children as he threw it off the roof.

You caught your breath and laid back down on the blanket. "Anyways, relax. I’ll be fine.” You shrugged off his weird question and closed your eyes, your mind drifting off to other thoughts of sweet things and cuddles.

Jerome’s eyes quickly snapped to you as you made movement to lay down. His pupils dilated with lust and he moved his hips when he felt stirring in his shorts. His eyes roamed over the skin of your stomach, his eyes picking out his favorite stretch mark, or mole, or scar. _Every part of you was his favorite in the most sickeningly sweet way._ Jerome shook his head and went back to quickly shoving pretzels in his mouth.

\---

The lights were on and various music was playing throughout the grounds. The smell of deep frier grease, sweet, and sugar filled the air. People crowded the games and side shoes, waiting for the main shows to begin when the sun sets. Chatter and tunes filled the spaces in between tents, giving no escape to someplace suite besides the tents farther down where the performers got ready.

You were in one of the makeup tents with your brothers and Jerome, decked out in a purple leotard that had orange, web like designs scrolling across them that sparkled like hell. Your older brothers wore something of similar design on their own, but each costume had something just a little bit different, be it a different web color or a small detail in the webbing design. Jerome always snickered when he saw any of you in costume and made a comment about it being too early for Halloween. You’d look at him and deadpan fake, dry laughter before breaking down in snickers and giggles with him and playfully punching his arm.

Soon it was time to go preform and you were tailing your brothers up the ladders to the catwalks. Your brothers loosely wrapped their legs and waists in the purple and blue fabrics, they gave you a confirmatory nod before your eldest brother sad on the catwalk and waited. Colorful beams of lights swirled around the big top tent before turning white and landing on Mr. Haly who announced your act. With the call of your older brothers name, he rolled down from the fabric and curled around the fabric for a second before wrapping the length of his leg around one and used the other to hold onto with his arms. His back arched elegantly before he curled forward again, his ankles both wrapped as he came to a still in a crouching position. 

Your other brother went next with a call of his name, hanging upside down and spinning as the sheer fabric fluttered around beneath him. He slowed and brought one leg to him, securing one strand of fabric around his left ankle to stand still. He looked up and waited for you with a bright smile.

With quick work of your hands and the longest announcement, you wrapped your thigh in the fabric and scaled down the excess. You bowed one leg and arched your back with your head tilted, the ground to your back and your heart to the skies. You closed your eyes and too two deep breaths. Your eyes shot open and your focused on the roar of the crowd, you made a swing by wrapping one strand around your waist and under you to bring it back to join the other that swirled around your leg. You sat idly on the fabric and waved to the crowds, the smile you had starting to hurt your cheeks.

Music began to boom and your brothers assumed a splitting positions with each strand wrapping their legs with quick work with you right behind them. The show had begun and Jerome was as present as always, watching you with bags of cotton candy hanging from his belt and a bottle of something.

Right now, you felt celestial and apart of the sky. As if every star was every cell in your body, and that each one was exploding with the light and joy that people would wish on. There’s nothing quite like work.

\---

Cartwheeling away from the main ring, you followed your brother to a slit in the tent that lead to the walkways to the makeup tents. You tried to wipe the sweat your your face and neck as you walked behind your brothers who playfully punched and pushed at each other. Jerome caught you at the waist from behind and lifted you up, shrieks and giggles erupted from your throat.

“Mmm, good job, doll! You were great,” he praised you, burying his face against your back.

“Jerome, put me down! You see the show all the time,” you squealed and batted at his arms and tried to push his face away.

“Mm, nah! I think this is just fine!” He laughed loudly and began to spin around with his arms locked around your waist.

You giggled and tried to hold onto his forearms, your legs kicking freely without the security of the ground. He followed your brothers down the beaten path as he carried you with him with you leading him with verbal directions. Upon entering the tent, he set you down on a table and ruffled your hair.

“Stay right there, I’ll go get our treats,” he chimed with a smug smile.

Jerome ran off quickly, his long legs carrying him far. _Tonight was the night, tonight had to be the night. They were finally old enough to run away from here forever. To run away from the pain and work and hurt. You would be his forever girl, he just knew it._ Jerome personally found it disgusting how infatuated he was with you, yet he still drove himself and strove to please you and make you happy. It always left a too sweet feeling on his tongue to smile with you, but he wanted it more than anything. He had to confess tonight. It started to get less painful and more agitating to watch you flirt with a few certain younger Graysons, the urge to fight them rising more and more as he watched them touch you when they helped with your routine. He was the only one allowed to touch you. You were his, and it wasn’t going to be any other way.

Rounding a corner, the red head moved a bale of hay to pick up the bottle of stolen champagne and the four bags of cotton candy he had hidden there. He quickly gathered up the treats and quickly ran back to the tent to whisk you away to a field he found earlier, blankets and pillows already set up. All he needed was you.

He came striding back into the tent with confidence, announcing himself with a theatrical throat clearing. His head was held high with a wide smile as he held out the green tinted bottle and bags of blue and pink fluff. Someone coughed and immediately brought him down from his high horse. With furrowed eyebrows, he looked questioningly at a man with light hair in an expensive looking suit, taking some papers from your older brothers and you. Jerome’s eyes immediately flickered to you, you gave him a smile and hopped down from the vanity you perched on and took his arm.

“Come on, Jerome, let’s go,” you almost sang as you pulled him from the tent.

 _No. No, no, no._ He knew talent scouts always took acts from the circus, but not you. _Anyone but you._ He felt like he was going to vomit the nothingness in his stomach. Fear shot through his body like lightning and he felt himself go numb to your ramblings as you pulled him around the circus grounds.

Nuzzling against his shoulder you called out to Jerome, watching his blank face for any type of reaction. His eyes seemed distant and almost tearful. Jerome had plenty reasons to cry, but you’ve never seen him actually cry, to see his eyes even water was a sight to behold. Your arm tightened around his and you tried to tug him closer.

Jerome’s legs started to steer away from the area that held the performer’s trailers, blindly taking both of you away from the circus. Your feet stumbled after his as you tried to match his pace for a second. He pulled you through tall grass and weeds, the thistles and thorns scratching against your bare legs. You followed silently and pressed your face into his bicep.

You walked in silence for a while, letting Jerome pull you along. Jerome finally came to a stop at an area of pressed down grass, a blanket with in the center and pillows surrounding it. Your eyebrows came together, a frown quivering your lips. He set this up for the two of you, for your birthday.

Jerome turned around and looked at you, his eyes were bloodshot from the crying now and held something intense and almost suffocating. His shoulders were shaking and he stepped closer to you, only a few inches separating your chests. His mouth shakily opens and closes, his throat feeling dry and tight, as if something was choking him.

“I... N… No,” he managed to rasp out. His hands running up and down your arms before tightened around your wrists.

“Oh, Jerome.” You wiggled your wrists from his thin hands and threw your arms around his torso.

He stood still as stone, trying to grasp a sentence from his roaring thoughts. His arms were held mid air but slowly rested to his side, his body going almost slack and pressing int your body. You stiffened your legs to keep up Jerome’s weight.

“My brothers, they-they already said yes, Jay. I’m… I’m so sorry,” you mumbled against his chest. _You can’t leave him alone. He doesn’t deserve to be alone. Not with her._

His arms came up around your chest, crushing you into his body. He slipped down to his knees, taking you down with him. You sat sideways and rubbed Jerome’s back, tugging at the fabric of the shirt every once in a while. Jerome’s shaking began to slow, but his grip only tightened around you.

“Th-there has to be something we can do,” he mumbled into your hair.

“There’s nothing we can do, Jay,” you replied shakily, you’re arms relaxing a bit around him.

“Let’s just- I-I don’t know! We have to do something! Let’s-Let’s run!” He leaned back to look at you, a toothy grin beginning to grow on his face. “Yeah that’s it, babycakes! We’ll run away together, you and me!” His hands took yours and held them delicately, his body shaking with excitement.

“What- What? Jerome, no! I’m not running away with you,” you said, taking your hands from his and pushing away from him.

“Well why not? We’ve ran from the circus before,” he tried to counter, placing his hands at either side of your waist to try and trap you on the blanket with him.. A burning feeling filled his chest and rose steadily up his throat as he stared wildly at your determine eyes. No please. Not now. Anytime but now, please.

“Yeah for a night or so. Jerome, Haly’s is going to South Cover, Arizona tomorrow, that’s across the river, Jay. I’m staying with my brothers in Vegas, I-I can’t leave them. We’ve been together always,” you felt weak at the thought of your two older brothers not being near you. To love you and care for you, to smile at you and ruffle your hair after practices. You unfolded your legs and pushed away from him, bringing your legs to your chest. A chill ran through you as you looked back at him, you stood up and turned away from him. You heard Jerome move around and stand, stepping closer to you.

“That’s bullshit,” he quipped with a breathy chuckle. “Come on, doll, we can make it on our own! We can do it!” A wide smile flashed on Jerome’s face with a short laugh.

“No,” you said again as your eyes focused on your tattered shoes.

The red head’s goofy smile began to fade and quiver, a new fire burning in his eyes. His eyebrows came together in a scowl. Without thinking about it, his arms came up to your shoulders and pushed you away from him.

Stumbling forward a bit and fell onto your hands and knees, you were in complete shock. Jerome had never laid a harmful hand on you, he would never dare. He and you would playfully punch each other and bump into each other, but Jerome would never use such force with you. You’ve seen him fight plenty and be rough and rude to other people, other girls even, but he had never hurt you. While it didn’t hurt physically, it felt like ten poles piercing your heart. You got and started at him with an intense fire in your eyes, bringing your hands up and pushing him back with more force.

Jerome stumbled and felt his foot catch on the excess fabric of his pants as he stumbled. Knowing that he was going to fall, he instinctively reached out and grabbed your arm and pulled you down with him. You fell next to him with a small shriek and starting kicking once your side hit the ground. 

“Get off of me,” you screamed as his fingers closed tighter around your wrist. Your tears felt red hot as they slipped down your cheeks and over the bridge of your nose.

“You’re a fucking liar, why should I listen to you,” he screamed back, pulling roughly at your arm as your shouted and winced.

You brought your leg up and kicked at his stomach a few times before winding your fist back and landing a solid punch on his nose. Once you felt the cool air hit your wrist again, you quickly scuttled away from Jerome, who held his bloody nose with one hand and got up on his knees. You looked down at your hand and felt like a knife had been pressed against your throat as you saw Jerome’s blood on it. You quickly wiped off the blood on your jeans and got up from the ground, making a b-line for your brothers’ truck.

“I fucking hate you! You were nothing, but a flimsy time filler, you stupid bitch,” Jerome’s voice cracked as he screamed at your back. “Do you hear me? You’re nothing and you’ll always be that to me, to everyone!”

You slammed the car door once you climbed in, your entire body shaking from all that had happened. The truck came to life as your oldest brother turned the ignition, hiccups from your crying session racked your body as you angrily wiped the tears away with your sleeves. You were scared of this new world and new life and no friends. No best friend. 

Every memory felt ruined and demolished, the only words in your mind that were spoken by Jerome were the ones he last spoke to you. You hate him. You hate him and everything that he is.

Jerome screamed into the night sky, hot tears streaming down his face. _One good thing, he couldn’t have one good thing in his life. He hated her, he hated her, he hated her._ He cursed the stars for taking you away, the same stars he laid with you under and made dreams under. He screamed at the earth and feel to his knees, his hands ripping the blades of grass beneath him up. _It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be forever, you were supposed to be forever. You weren’t supposed to have this power over him._ His screaming subsided and he started to sob softly, his shoulders shaking with fear and anger. He fell forward and pressed his head to the ground between his knees and he tried to suck air into his lungs. _It hurts. It burns._ He felt like screaming all over again. Like ripping out his own lungs and brain to stop the pain. He wanted to be free of feeling.

Something began to boil in his stomach and he puked up the ice cream he ate before the show, a bit of vomit coming out of his nose. The smell burned his eyes and his esophagus burned, but he just stared down at the pink puddle. He felt empty again before his chest started to feel warm again. He took in a deep breath and released is shakily. It didn’t help at all, the burning in his chest only rose. He kept breathing slowly as he stood up and tried to stumble back to his trailer.

Tripping over a coil of rope, his reflexes seemed to lag as his body slammed into a nearby cotton candy machine. He stayed on the ground before rolling onto his back, looking back up at the clear skies that allowed the stars to shine. The corners of his mouth stretched out and upwards, but Jerome felt nothing as a smile stretched across his face. The heat in his chest rose to his face as laughter began to drip from his lips, but it sounded hollow and bitter to Jerome’s ears.

He picked himself up from the ground and numbly made his way through the circus grounds. The mirthful tones rang out through the empty grounds as he blindly made his way back to his trailer.

His laughter died down to a quiet snickering as he neared his trailer. He tried his best to enter quietly, but he already knew what was to come. His mother’s lover was soon behind him, throwing him out of the trailer. He thought he heard his mother yelling at him, but he wasn’t sure, he was laughing again with a sadistic smile stretching across his face.

His body was still numb, but he saw his blood splattered on the hay beneath him and one his shaking hands awhile later. He laid back on the ground and looked up at the stars. _The stars… They look so blurry now. Again?_ He was trying to name constellation through tearful eyes while his laughed subsided to giggles. Soon, unconsciousness blanketed his mind and his eyes closed, he trained his weary, bloodshot eyes on one star. _That one… Four starts to the right of Orion. What did you name that star? Amethinia. Yeah... Jerome will find his stars again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey  
> im alive  
> have your fingers crossed for Never Ending Party to update or something new to even come out  
> hope you enjoyed, sinners

**Author's Note:**

> this is like super short for me, i am so sorry. but im sure collectively it'll be really long


End file.
